Reform Public Employee Unions - Ed Ring
Apparently September 26th was the day the public employee unions in
California launched their latest TV campaign to attack Governor
Schwarzenegger.
It would be helpful to our democracy if more voters would take a hard
look at the disparity in pay and benefits between unionized public
employees and people who work in the private sector who do work
requiring similar levels of skill and education.
If you make this analysis, you will find that the cost per year for
public employees is two to three times what their equivalent
counterparts cost per year in the private sector. This is not only
because public employees generally make more in their base rates of
pay, but because, on average, they have about twice as many paid days
off per year, and because most of them have pensions.
If you consider the cost of funding a pension for a retirement that
begins, on average, ten years earlier than social security benefits
begin, you need to basically double the amount of money it costs to
pay a public employee. If a public employee who is a nurse makes $50K
per year, taking into account their pension funding, this nurse costs
over $100K per year. In the private sector, a $50K position with
social security payments added costs at most about an additional $5K,
or $55K per year.
The cumulative impact of this is to put every public sector agency in
California - city, county and state - on the verge of insolvency. The
only reason we aren't seeing demands for higher taxes to stave off
civic bankruptcies is because this year California's economy is doing
pretty well. Even now, with record revenues fueled by record property
tax receipts, we are seeing services cut and hiring slowed at public
agencies.
The reason we have totally unsustainable public pensions is because of
the power of public employee unions. The cost for public employees in
California, per year, is about $50 BILLION more than the cost would be
if these people were paid according to the rates and benefits that
prevail in the private sector.
This is why public employee unions hate Schwarzenegger. He went to
Sacramento and realized this was what had happened to public finance,
and he had the temerity to try to do something about it. It doesn't
matter what your politics are, the idea that unions who raise hundreds
of millions of dollars per year of taxpayers money to elect whoever
will perpetuate their benefits which are far out of line with normal
private sector pay is a violation of public trust. People in uniform
who campaign so disingenuously against Schwarzenegger should be
ashamed of themselves.
Today public employee unions exercise virtual control over every
public agency in California. Their financial clout combined with
their grassroots organizing - all funded by our taxes - makes them
nearly impossible to stop. The idea that business interests can match
this power is absurd. First of all, most business lobbyists don't
care - they want the public sector to be starved for money and what
better way than to grossly overpay the people working in government.
If you believe in the potential of government programs to improve the
quality of life for all workers, public AND private, then you have to
conclude the power of public employee unions must be broken. They
serve themselves, not the people, and they are driving our public
institutions headlong towards a fiscal catastrophe. Wake up.
Ed Ring
Editor, EcoWorld
Note:
We welcome different opinions on subjects of interest to Sacramento readers. If you would like to write an opposing view, please send it to Gillian@Sacramentoexecutive.com.
Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive
